You Don't REALLY Mean Glasses?
by BalletandBooks
Summary: James Potter didn't always wear glasses. It took an angry teacher, a REALLY annoyed redhead, an exasperated werewolf, and a limited variety of frames to give James Potter his signature, bespectacled look.


**My first Harry Potter story… A marauder one! It takes place during their first year. Inspired by one of my friends who I have to takes notes for since his parents won't buy him another pair of glasses.**

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Summary: James Potter didn't always wear glasses. It took an angry teacher, an intuitive redhead, and a limited variety of frames to give James Potter his signature, bespectacled look.

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Her cat-like hearing detected a whisper as she sat at her desk, giving the students time to copy the notes she'd written on the board. Four boys sat at the back of the transfiguration classroom, and Professor McGonagall was positive something sneaky was going on, as if those boys hadn't already caused enough trouble during their first month at Hogwarts. In the first two weeks alone, they'd learned enough to turn the Gryffindor common room into a bubble bath, give a certain Slytherin a Bat-Bogey-Hex, and turn her usually calm first year classes into chaos.

"Mister Potter and Mister Bl- Lupin?" McGonagall was beside herself. She was sure that the troublemakers would be the notorious (in her mind, at least) Black and Potter duo. They always seemed to be at the root of the mess. At this moment, though, Black was sitting next to a Mister Pettigrew, an unfortunately overweight boy.

"Mister Lupin! I have to say, I never expected this from you. I thought you were more responsible than this!" McGonagall truly liked Lupin. His strict study habits and not to mention his… ailment, caused her to have a soft spot for the young man, though his being friends with this rowdy band of these troublemakers, these… marauders, you could call them, tarnished his record, in her opinion.

As she strode to the back of the room, eleven year old Remus Lupin's already pale face paled even more, and he began to hyperventilate a little. It wasn't like he hadn't gotten in trouble with the professor before, it was just that he'd never been punished alone, and certainly not for trying to do something nice.

"Professor! Ahh- uh- um- well, you see, oh my God…" He got kinda dizzy from hyperventilating and the boy to his left, James Potter, stepped in to save him from McGonagall's 'wrath'. (In all honesty, she was stating a true point, but in Remus' eyes, it was worse than being pecked to death by a Hippogriff.)

James Potter was a tall boy for his age, with messy brown hair and hazel eyes, as well as a clear smattering of freckles across the bridge of his nose. He was a very charismatic boy, and even McGonagall had to admit that there'd been times when he'd talked her into a less severe punishment. She didn't do it for him, though. She did it for the House Cup.

"P'fessor," James began, putting a hand on his friends shoulder in an attempt to slightly calm him down, "I believe there's been a misunderstanding."

"Potter, please tell me how your talking during my lesson could be a misunderstanding?"

"Well, I was just telling asking Remus if he wouldn't mind letting me see his notes." McGonagall nodded, slightly suspicious.

"Why can't you take your own notes in this class, Mister Potter?" She was sure she'd have him stumped here. She smiled in her triumph as James squirmed a little uncomfortably under her gaze.

"You've written them too small," he said, and her smiled quickly turned into an accusatory glare.

"What do you mean 'I've written them too small'?" She looked around the room and found the face of Lily Evans, a truly gifted young Gryffindor, staring in the boys' direction from her seat in the front with a look of disdain. "Miss Evans, do you think I've written the notes too small?"

Lily Evans was a small girl, even for a first year, with red hair and bright green eyes, which just played off and made her hair look even redder than it actually was. Her strive to be the best was admirable, as well as her commitment to avoid James Potter and his gang.

"No, Professor, I think you've written them just fine." Lily shot a look back at the boys. "Maybe you should try focusing on school and not just how you're gonna ruin someone else's day." She'd been a victim of quite a few of their pranks, as had her best friend, Severus Snape, and was already sick of it.

"Mister Potter, I'm afraid if you can't see the notes from here, I'll have to ask you to move up next to… Miss Evans," McGonagall decided, and both James and Lily exploded into shouts of refusal.

"But Professor, I can't!"

"He's just so…"

"She's such a…"

"… and I'll get distracted!"

"She'll kill me!"

"I'll do anything!"

"That's enough!" McGonagall boomed, and both children shrunk back into their seats.

"Now, as I was saying, Mister Potter, will you please move up next to Miss Evans?" Mutely, James nodded, and grabbed his books and moved up to the seat next to Lily.

"Any better from up here?" she asked him, and he nodded, giving her an accusatory glare, as if his moving seats had anything to do with her.

* * *

**Early December**

"_Pst_." Lily ignored the very annoying boy sitting next to her. She scooted her chair away and continued to take notes.

"_Psst! Psst! Oi, Evans!_" James whispered one eye on Lily and the other attempting to check McGonagall's position in the room.

Lily continued to ignore him.

"_Evans! I need help. Please!_" he whisper-moaned. Lily rolled her eyes and blocked his voice out, something she'd become quite good at during her first semester at Hogwarts. She didn't hear anything until McGonagall's voice broke through her focus.

"Mister Potter!" her voice rose into a shrill call at the word 'Potter'. "What in the name of Merlin's beard are you doing?"

Immediately, Lily looked over at where James had been sitting, and found him not to be there. She looked to her left and saw him peering over her paper guiltily. It looked as if he'd crawled under the table just to see her notes. **(Mr. Bean, anyone?) **

"JAMES!" she shrieked, covering up her papers and snatching them away from his eyes.

"Mister Potter, what possessed you to do that? The notes are in front of you! You sit in the front row!"

James blushed, and mumbled something, causing him to blush even harder, spreading from his cheeks to his whole face.

"What was that, Potter? I didn't hear you." Lily laughed, mocking him.

"I said I couldn't see what was written on the board." He bit his lip as McGonagall and Lily each gave him a look. Lily's was of concealed laughter, and McGonagall's was of confusion.

"Did you say you can't read what I've written on the board?" he nodded, and from the back of the room, an "oooh" arose before a smack and a "cut it out, Sirius!" was heard.

McGonagall made a _tsk _noise and summoned a quill, some ink, and a sheet of parchment. She scribbled something out and folded it up, handing it to Lily.

"Miss Evans, will you please escort Mister Potter to the Infirmary and give Madame Pomfrey this note? " Lily nodded and packed up her things, putting them in the nice leather satchel she'd received from her parents before coming to Hogwarts in September.

"Pomfrey? Why? I'm perfectly fine!" He protested, but McGonagall shook her head and herded them out the door.

"Hey!" shouted Sirius, standing up and dragging Remus, his new seat partner, up with him. "We wanna go too!"

"Actually, I…" Remus groaned in embarrassment, a flood of pink rushing to his face. McGonagall sighed, and knowing that they'd sneak out anyway, waved them on to go with the other two students. Excitedly, Sirius pulled the wiry boy along, forgetting Peter, their third accomplice (who was sleeping anyways).

* * *

Lily walked own the hallway next to Remus, who she realized was more like her than she thought. He was an unusually pale boy with light brown hair, amber eyes, and an unusual scar from his right temple to his cheek. As they talked during their journey down the hallway, James and Sirius (or Black and Potter in Lily's case) talked loudly and nearly ran down the hallway the only time they'd stop would be to steer Potter around some sort of obstacle he hadn't seen and was about to trip over.

"So… Lupin," She began, and he looked up from watching his friends.

"Call me Remus… Lily," he told her; giving her an awkward half smile.

"Okay, Remus," she said, returning the gesture, "how'd you do on that Charms test on Monday?" His face lit up and the two young Gryffindors struck up a conversation that lasted the whole walk to the Hospital Wing.

Once the two new friends caught up with James and Sirius, Lily went ahead of them, and opened the door.

"Well, aren't you coming?" she asked, voice going a bit shrill at the end, causing the tree boys to wince.

"After you, Remus, Sirius," James shooed the other two boys in ahead of him, purposely distancing himself from the Hospital Wing's door.

"Potter? Going somewhere?" Lily asked, giving him her sternest glare. He blushed, being caught sneaking away, and gave a nervous laugh.

"Me? Sneaking away? Well, that's absurd!" Lily raised an eyebrow and walked over to James.

"McGonagall charged me with making sure you got to the Hospital Wing, and I am determined to get you there and back. This has nothing to do with you, Potter, it's about my reputation. If you value your life above anything else, I suggest you get yourself in there right this instant!"

James nodded fervently, not wanting to face the wrath of the angry (and admittedly beautiful, though blurry) Lily Evans, who he knew had top marks in all her classes.

"Good," she responded curtly, "we're finally beginning to make some sense here." She went around behind him and nearly pushed him into the Hospital Wing, where the large, heavy doors echoed as they slammed shut behind her.

As they walked in, they saw Madame Pomfrey, the young healer in charge, talking to Remus quite seriously.

"… two or three days, right?" she leaned over and patted his shoulder. He nodded and gave her another awkward smile, the only one he seemed to be capable of.

"Yes, two."

James walked towards Madame Pomfrey and Remus and tripped over an obviously misplaced stool, somehow dragging a seemingly bored Sirius with him, and unintentionally, causing Lily to go bounding along with them until they were all in a heap on the floor, with poor Remus on the bottom.

"Is everyone alright?" Pomfrey asked after helping everyone up. Everyone nodded, and she breathed a sigh of relief. "So, what brings you all up here today?"

"Well," Lily began, procuring the note from McGonagall from the depths of her bag, "Professor McGonagall gave me this note to bring with James and the rest just tagged along."

Madame Pomfrey took the note and read it over, nodding ever-so-slightly, and looked up at the group, smiling.

"Okay, Mister Potter, I'll need you to come into my office for a second. It won't take long," she reassured him, as he looked back towards his friends and mouthed 'help'.

They waved at him as she pushed him into her office, as he thrashed all the way there.

"So… What do we do now?" asked Sirius, who was already bored out of his mind.

"Well," answered Remus, pulling out the transfiguration textbook, "since I won't be in the lesson today, no thanks to you, I'll be reviewing the chapter so I don't fall behind." Mimicking his actions, Lily pulled out the book too.

"Remus is right," she said, wagging a finger in Sirius' direction. "We can't afford to miss a lesson!"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Lesson, shmesson, whatever!"

Remus and Lily shook their heads, and the two of them bent over their books and began to read, helping each other out whenever there was confusion. Sirius tried to distract them for the next 15 minutes, making irritating fart noises under his armpits and blowing raspberries, just trying to gain attention.

"Sirius, that's enough," said Remus quietly, peering up at him through a fringe of hair covering his eyes. He felt a migraine coming on, and this time, it wasn't just because of the moon.

"Fine," he scowled, and sat grumpily in the comfy hospital chairs just as James and Madame Pomfrey came out of her office. Seeing his best friend, Sirius leapt up out of his seat and practically tackled him, sending both of them sprawling against the cold linoleum floor.

"James!" he whispered, "What did she do to you?" He looked up at the healer, who was giving the two boys a bemused look. "Do you have some strange disease? Do you reckon you'll die? If you die can I have your Chuddley Cannons poster?"

"Nothing, she just tested my eyes." James sat up, freeing himself from Sirius' death grip, and gave a hand to Sirius, pulling both of them up.

"And…?" James rolled his eyes in the other boy's direction.

"And I have to get glasses." James shrugged his shoulders. Sirius, on the other hand, was more hysterical about the whole matter.

"Glasses? You don't REALLY mean glasses?" Sirius exclaimed, shaking James' shoulders quite forcefully.

"Yes, Sirius," Remus answered, worried for James' safety, "he said he needed glasses. Now, I think he'd appreciate it if you'd let go."

"Oh. Yes, of course," Sirius said embarrassedly and let him go, brushing his shoulders for good measure.

"Now that we all seem to be okay with this," James began, looking pointedly at Sirius, "how'd you all like to help me pick out some glasses frames? Pomfrey says it's okay."

Sirius nodded enthusiastically, while Lily and Remus looked to each other for approval. Although they'd just met, and Lily was naturally suspicious of Remus, being a troublemaker by association, they both valued the other's opinions.

"Well, I'm going," stated Remus, packing his books and standing, "might as well stop him from picking something stupid."

"I guess I'll come too," she agreed, and stood up. "I've already reviewed the lesson, so if I go back to class, I'll be bored." She wandered over to the back wall of the infirmary, where Madame Pomfrey had set up some frames for them to choose from.

"I can't really see what this looks like, so I'm gonna trust you guys. Can I?"

"Of course, Potter," Lily responded, suddenly taking this very seriously. "You put trust in me, and I'll follow through."

"Thanks, Evans," he smiled at her, and, tentatively, she smiled back. "Now, what do you think of these?" James asked the group, putting on a pair of circular, wire framed glasses.

"I think those are nice," she told him honestly. The other two boys snickered.

"Evans! Have you gone mad? Those are the ugliest glasses I've ever seen! What respectable man would ever wear circular glasses?" Sirius countered loudly and explosively.

"I think they're dashing, really," Lily said, not particularly regarding James, but taking it as a compliment, he blushed, and took the glasses off and set them aside. "I'll see if anything else comes up, but these are a possibility."

Next was a pair of plastic aviators. They were clear and squarish.

"Eww," Lily removed them from his face as soon as they were put on them. "Those are the most horrendous glasses I've ever seen!"

James removed them from his face. "What the lady says goes!"

"I thought they looked nice…" Sirius mumbled, and Remus patted his back sympathetically.

The last pair he tried were some thick rectangular frames that he hastily shoved on his face. He turned to face his friends and Lily, and smiled.

"What do you think of these?"

"I think…" Sirius began, about to say he preferred the aviators.

"Those are…" continued Remus, about to mention how ridiculous they looked.

"Perfect!" exclaimed Lily, oblivious to the dumbstruck expressions on the other two boy's faces. "You simply must get those!" Remus went to tell her to cut it out, maybe to actually tell James that he looked quite silly with them, but she cut him off before he began, a giggle almost escaping her almost-genuine expression. "Potter, you look quite handsome." James' face burned red, and he ran to fetch Madame Pomfrey.

"Madame Pomfrey, I've decided on these." He said, and she stifled a laugh. "Potter, you can't be serious."

"Why not?" he countered, and removed the empty frames from his face to give Pomfrey a sharp look. "Lily said I looked handsome."

She shook her head. "Potter how about your mates? Did you even ask them?" He shook his head. "Exactly." Pomfrey took the glasses out of James' hand and put them back on the rack. "I think these'll suit you a little better," she smiled, and handed him a pair of glasses that vaguely resembled a pair just like Buddy Holly's.

"Whoa, James, those are brill!" Sirius exclaimed. Remus nodded.

"I like those too, James," he agreed, and Lily pouted.

"I liked the rectangle ones," she told them adamantly, and Sirius rolled his eyes, quickly catching on to what she was doing.

"You only like them because he looks like a pansy!" he refuted, and Lily swiveled around Remus to face him.

"Like you'd be any different if it was someone else, Black!" she spat.

"You bloody well know I wouldn't do that, Evans! I'm too much of a human, unlike _some people_!"

"Oh, shut up! No one listens to you anyways!"

"Oh, but at least I have friends!" Sirius shouted, and that's when Remus finally decided to intervene.

"That's ENOUGH!" he shouted, exceeding the volume any of them had ever heard him speak in the last 4 months, including the first half of September where he'd barely said two words to anyone. He almost shattered his own brain, his own voice aggravating the growing pain behind his eyes. "Both of you, acting like children!" His eyebrows furrowed, and he continued mumbling inaudibly to himself before letting out a loud _huff_.

"Well," said James, breaking the awkward silence, "I think I'll go with these, then," pointing to the ones on his face.

Pomfrey grinned, happy to know that she had influenced a smart decision, and took the frames, waved her wand, and handed them back to James, who put them on.

"Whoa!" he exclaimed, seeing clearly for the first time in months. "Everything is so, it's so…"

"Clear?" Remus supplied, and James ran over to him.

"Whoa, Remus! Your hair, it's like, wavy, and like, almost able to put in a ponytail!" Remus shrugged, and tucked a piece of hair behind his ear. Maybe a haircut would be in order soon enough.

"And Sirius, mate," James ran over to him as well, "you look like a person! Like, not a blob!"

"And Evans," he said, as he turned to face Lily. "She's just as…" he faced her and he stopped. "Whoa, Evans, you're, you're…"

She looked at him, expecting an answer.

"Sirius, look at her, she's …" Lily cocked an eyebrow.

"I'm what?" she retorted, expecting a rude answer.

"Why is Evans so pretty? I thought she was ugly as a troll, but now that I've seen her…" Remus facepalmed, and Sirius dragged him away from the furiously blushing redhead.

"Thanks, Pomfrey!" he called as James was dragged away, still craning to clearly look at Lily. Clearly he had never heard of social skills.

"A troll?" Lily murmured, self-consciously rubbing her cheek

"Miss Evans, I have a feeling he's going to be a little bit nicer to you now."

* * *

"Madame Pomfrey," Lily Evans cried, rushing in to the healer's office after lessons only two days after the glasses incident. "You must take those horrid glasses back at once."

"Why? They seemed to work just fine," Pomfrey set down the vial she'd been holding and sat down, motioning for Lily to take a seat.

"No, not at all!" Lily was near hysterics. "He's become even more unbearable! It's simply humiliating!"

"What has he done to you?" asked Madame Pomfrey, offering the girl a hot cup of tea to calm her down.

"He keeps embarrassing me! In every class, he's either making fun of me or telling everyone how much he loves me! He's… he's… an insufferable GIT!"

"Love, it gets better. He'll either get over it or realize you don't like it, okay?" The healer patted the overwhelmed Lily on the back and wiped her eyes with a handkerchief procured from her pocket. Lily nodded, and lightly batted the woman's hand away, wiping her own tears away with her sleeve.

"Thanks, Madame Pomfrey." She got up, returned the cup and saucer, and left, narrowly missing Remus' discreet entry into the Hospital Wing.

"Over here, love," she directed, pointing him in the direction of an empty bed.

Remus smiled and stumbled into bed. "You have no idea how nice this feels."

"Oh, I bet it is." She poured him a cup of tea and brought it over. "Last moon of the month, isn't that nice?" Remus nodded. "And your friend, with the glasses, James, how is he?" Remus threw her an exasperated look.

"Don't get me started on James."

* * *

The Hogwarts Express screeched to a stop, and the four first-year Gryffindors hopped off, Remus a little slower than the other three boys. As James flew off the train, his trunk flailing behind him as it was pulled with little regard for the general public.

"Mum?" James found the graying red hair of his mum speaking to several other parents, unaware of the students streaming out of the crimson train. Grace Potter turned around and gasped.

"James?" she replied incredulously. He nodded, with a grin almost larger than his face, and he was instantly engulfed in a bone-crushing hug. "Oh my, you look just like your father! Your father…" She trailed off, realizing that she needed to find her husband. She waved to the women she had been speaking with, and pulled James along in search of his father. Although she was older than most parents, she had more spunk in her than one would expect.

"Charlus?" She called over the sounds of platform 9 ¾, the families reuniting, the train whistle blowing. "Charlus!" she tried again, and at last, she saw the salt and pepper hair she loved the most, and went up to him with James following close behind, pushing his glasses up as he rode on the trunk cart, pushing the ground with one foot like a scooter.

Hearing Grace's voice, he turned around and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Darling," she said, extracting him from the interesting quidditch discussion he'd been involved in. "Look who it is!"

Charlus was confused, expecting for it to be one of Grace's friends he was _oh-so fond_ of (Sarcasm?), but instead found his son.

"James?" He asked, pushing up his own glasses in a similar manner.

"Dad," he replied, mocking his father. "Devilishly handsome, as always."

Charlus smiled. "Definitely James. Even more dashing than before, son." He ruffled James' hair as he took the trunk-cart from him and began walking out of the platform. "Who picked those out for you?"

"A lovely lady, that's who," he joked, and without missing a beat, threw a wink at Lily, who blushed red as she ushered her family away.

"Who's that?" his mum joked, and the little family laughed as they walked away.

**The end.**


End file.
